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The Media Finally Compels Microsoft to Release the IE10 Flash Bug Patch Prior to the Roll Out of Windows 8

TMCnews Featured Article

September 17, 2012

The Media Finally Compels Microsoft to Release the IE10 Flash Bug Patch Prior to the Roll Out of Windows 8

By David Gitonga, TMCnet Contributing Writer

Criticism from the media on Microsoft’s (News - Alert) decision to wait until the release of the next generation OS, Windows 8, have paid off after the PC OS giant decided to reverse the decision to release a patch for a Flash vulnerability. Microsoft has decided to embed Flash directly into Internet Explorer 10 hence taking responsibility of updating the browser each time Adobe (News - Alert) releases flash patches.

Responding to the pressure, Microsoft drafted an e-mail whose contents admitted the fact that the company is keen on tightening the loopholes around this top browser-based security risk and that an update fix for the IE10 will be out shortly. The company said, “Ultimately, our goal is to make sure the Flash Player in Windows 8 is always secure and up-to-date, and to align our release schedule as closely to Adobe's as possible.”

The security patch will have to address six separate flaws discovered and patched by Adobe a while after Microsoft had the IE10 ready. All the flaws have critical rating since competent hackers can use the loopholes they leave to commandeer a computer system with five of the flaws giving room for remote execution of code on a computer.

Commenting on the hype surrounding the patch, Paul Henry, security and forensics analyst at Lumension, views the move to release the patch before the rolling out of Windows 8 as an excellent precaution. He said, "They're just getting ready to crank things up on that operating system and the last thing they want is to release it, have large adoption in the enterprise, and then be immediately hit with a problem due to a known third party issue."

For users of previous versions of IE, there is totally nothing to be worried about since Flash player in these browsers exists as an independent add-on, meaning that any security patches from Adobe will be enough to regain control of your browser life.

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